Indie Games Spotlight for May 13th, 2012

I think it seems fitting that I'm highlighting Craftimals not long after the XBLA release of Minecraft.

One part crafting game and one part 2D platformer, Craftimals lets you build your own way to the top! Play single-player or local co-op and help the animals reach the sun. Checkpoints along the way give you new powers and hats. Find out what happens when you touch the sun, or simply have fun building and creating pictures out of blocks!

RELEASE DATE: 3/7/2012DEVELOPER: Roppy ChopGENRE: Platformer

FEATURESOffline players 1 - 2Offline co-op 2Dolby Digital

Mindless fun is how I heard Minecraft originally described to me, and I think that same description applies well to Craftimals. While you don't have to mine and create all of your items in Craftimals, you can "craft" pictures or other scenery in-game, or actually build platforms to help you reach the sun, your only goal in this game.

Simple controls work make this game easy for anyone to pick up. X places a block, B deletes a block, and A jumps. Your bumpers and triggers help you cycle through your hats and block colors respectively. The rest is up to you.

The "game" portion clocks in around two hours if you decide to build to the sun, at which point you can continue your game and create some interesting scenery if you so decide. The weakest part of the game would be the soundtrack, I would highly suggest starting your own music player and turning the in-game soundtrack off after you have heard it repeat a couple of times.

For only 80 MSPCraftimals may very well fill that creative void you are yearning for in between mining sessions in Minecraft. I wish the developers had been a bit more generous with your toolset earlier in the game, but if you've got two hours to kill the payoff at the end is worth it.

If you have an Xbox Live Indie Game that you feel should be featured in an edition of the Indie Games Spotlight, please PM your suggestions to mancide.

When not enjoying video games, our fearless newshound enjoys an nice pint of fermented barley and hops in a variety of styles. India Pale Ales, Stouts, Porters, Witbiers, Saisons, Gose, Lambics, Barleywine, you name it. If it has water, malted barley, hops and yeast in it, I'll consume it.
I also enjoy all things technological, Doctor Who, wrasslin, traveling, and spending time with my family.